Planning an Online Class: Getting Ready

Curriculum Planning, Digital Learning

As you plan how to deliver your online lesson, do take some time to consider the key questions below:

Enquire & Explore

• Where do I begin?
• How do I ensure that the quality of the learning experience is maintained?
• What platform am I using to communicate with my students?
• What activities and tools can I use to engage them?
• How do I establish a connection with my students? Do the students know what to do in my class?
• How can my TA support me?

Plan & Design: How do I go about planning and designing my course?

• What are the lesson objectives to deliver for each session?
• How is my content delivered: synchronously, asynchronously or both?
• Do I need to establish a development timeframe for creating my content?
• What are the instructional strategies, activities and assessments required?

Development: How do I go about preparing and producing my online content?

• When I deliver my lessons, do I use the same presentation slides that I use in class?
• How do I best communicate concepts and ideas across an online medium?
• Do I pre-record my videos or do I provide a recording of my synchronous session for students to review?
• What other tools can I use to engage my students and increase participation?
• How do my students access the learning materials?

Review: What is the perspective from my students’ point of view?

• What is the overall learning experience that my student is receiving?
• Are my slides well-designed? Can they see the text or annotations on graphs etc?
• Are my pre-recorded videos able to communicate the key learning points?
• Can my students access my materials easily?
• How can my students clarify their doubts?

Deliver: How am I interacting with my students to help them learn?

• What are some good routines to establish?
• What is a suitable pace that I should adopt?
• Do I have a good sense of whether my students are keeping pace?
• How do I gauge if they are learning?
• How do I provide regular and timely feedback to my students?

Evaluate

• Although the nature of online courses requires that the course be pre-designed in advance, have you allowed room for the experience to be dynamic and adaptable to your students' needs?
• Do I need to make some adjustments for the subsequent session?
• How can I incorporate feedback from my students to improve future offerings of my course along with students' satisfaction and success?